Types of homes available:

• Single Family House
The single family house is the “typical” American home. Single family homes offer the most privacy and freedom.

• Duplexes
The two family house is great for people who want additional income because the second part of the house is rented out.

• Condominiums
Condos are most attractive to younger homeowners who do not intend to raise a family soon and who do not need the extra privacy and open space of a single family home. They are also ideal for older individuals who do not have time or energy to maintain the outside areas of their homes. They are actual ownership of a particular unit. They have deeds and monthly fees which consist of individual property taxes and common charges. Common charges are collected to help maintain the common elements within condominium. The Condo Board/ Association oversees the common interests, and acts as a supervisory board for the condominium. Some Boards reserve the right to set financing requirements for the building. Some condos do not own land that they have been built on and are thus termed to have a land lease. Battery Park City in Manhattan is a good example, where the land is leased from the City.

• CO-Ops
CO-Ops are known as ownership to stock in the corporation which in turn owns real estate. You personally do not own real property. There is no deed. Instead the borrower is responsible for paying maintenance to the coop. This monthly fee covers the cost to operate the coop, including payments made for buildings underlying mortgage. Your monthly contribution will depend upon the number of shares owned.
Coop boards play a much greater role in building regulation than condo boards. Unless purchasing an apartment directly from the sponsor, the borrower is required to go before the coop board for approval into the building. A coop board can reject a borrower for any reason with no explanation needed. There are many unfortunate instances where a borrower is approved for a mortgage and than gets rejected by the coop board. Coops usually set an LTV limit as to the financing allowed in the building. This generally ranges from as much as 50% down payment to as little as 10%.

• Townhouses
A townhouse is somewhat between a condo and a single family house. Homeowners associations govern them, and there are usually strict rules about the outward appearance of each townhouse. Advantages of townhouses are that the homeowners association may provide security services and will usually take care of your outside gardening. Because your unit will not be attached to as many other units, you will probably be liable for possible damage to less common property

Advantages

• Financial Independence
When you pay rent it’s like flushing your money down the toilet. It’s pure income for the landlord. But if you buy a house, you are making an investment in equity. It’s like opening a savings account. Every dollar that you pay as your monthly mortgage principal payment is a dollar you put away in your new savings account. The appreciation you get in your house is like interest paid to you in your savings account. Historically, American homes overall have gone up on an average of about 8% annually. If you decide to sell or refinance the house you get equity back. Consider it as withdrawing your savings from that savings account.

• Lower Income Tax
By paying a mortgage payment the government allows the interest paid on your loan to be tax deductible; it’s like you never earned that money for income tax purposes. Your annual property taxes are also completely tax deductible as well as the bank origination fees that you pay when buying a house.

• Privacy
When renting a place, the fact of the matter is that you are living in someone else’s house Landlords show the apartment when you aren’t around or have other people over, like the plumber sometimes without letting you know before hand. But when you buy a house, it is your castle. American law places so much emphasis on the property of homeowners that you could shoot and kill anyone who does intrude on your property if you think that the intruder might hurt you.


• Freedom
Have you ever read your lease agreement? It probably prohibits visitors from staying more than a few days, pets, aquariums, waterbeds, commercial activity, illegal activity, painting, and wallpapering, hanging pictures on the wall, loud noises, objects of unusual size and dimensions, and bicycle storage. If you violate any of these rules the landlord may evict you.

But if you buy your house, you decide what the rules are.

Disadvantages

• Maintenance
Maintenance can be a discouraging factor when thinking of buying a house. If the sink in your house is clogged up or a fuse blows, you cannot call the landlord to get it fixed. You have to do it yourself, because you are the homeowner and that would incur an unexpected expense. On the upside of course, you wouldn’t have to wait three weeks to get it fixed by the landlord.

• Property Taxes
When you own your home, you are responsible for paying the property taxes yourself. So that the local government can pay for things like public schools, streetlights, and road repair. When renting some people don’t realize that because the landlord charges only one monthly payment, which is not broken down into detail.

• Insurance
Some renters carry renter’s insurance, which protects against misfortunes like theft or destruction of your personal property in the apartment. When buying a house you must also buy a home owner’s insurance (HOI), it protects the house in case of fire, flood (sometimes require a separate policy solely for floods), tornadoes, personal injury on the premises. This insurance might cost slightly more than renters insurance.

• Mobility
This is probably the biggest concern for most new homeowners. A renter who wants to move just has to wait until his/her lease expires. But a homeowner must sell his/her house first and in some market conditions that might be a difficult task. So before you buy a house make sure that you are financial and more importantly emotionally ready.

Fee’s Associated with buying a house

Home Inspection Fees $200 - $500
Appraisal Fees $350 - $1000
Attorney Fees $750 min
Realtor Fees $ varied percentage
Bank Fees $ varied percentage